Walking by Faith, Not by Sight
Janet Perez Eckles
Reblogged March 26, 2021
March 26, 2021
“C’mon, girlfriend, we’re going to the mall,” my friend said.
“Yahoo!” I hung up the phone with a huge smile. Any chance to hit stores and come home with bargains stirred girlish excitement. Since I lost my eyesight, these trips gave me a chance to get out, catch up, laugh, and come home with crazy stories.
I grabbed my friend’s arm and we strolled through crowded store aisles as we headed to the petite department.
“I see a perfect outfit for you,” she said. “And I think it’s on sale!” Our steps quickened.
Once in the dressing room, she handed me the fitted top. I slip my arms through. “Hmm… a little tight.” I tried to poke my head through, but got stuck midway. “I think I need a bigger size,” I said.
“No way. It’s your size,” she said. She tugged first one side then the other.
The top wouldn’t budge, on or off. My arms up in the air pressed against my ears.
My words of panic muffled by the blouse that smashed my face.
“No pain, no gain,” she said as she yanked with all her might.
My head poked through, jack-in-the-box style. While catching my breath, I stared in space. My arms limp to the sides as I imagined this garment would never come off again.
Moments later, my friend gasped as she ran her fingers to the side. “Oh, I can’t believe it…” she said.
“What?”
“It has a zipper.”
A zipper? She’s got to be kidding.
“Sorry. I just didn’t see it.”
Another crazy story.
But this one mirrors the difficult dilemma for many today. COVID, fear, anxiety, masks and all that junk we face puts us in a tight, uncomfortably painful spot. We’re stuck. And raw from the stress, we wonder if we’ll ever be free again.
Confusion sets in because we made the mistake of expecting happiness by allowing the world to dictate our goals, dreams, and expectations. But the world failed us.
When all seemed to be just fine, surprise, 2020 greeted us with an unexpected tight grip that choked our happiness. Then, the struggle began. We tugged, yanked, and pulled on various ways to be free. But we remained stuck in fear.
We failed. Because we battled using our feeble strength. How do I know? I’ve been there.
I was only 30 years old when the effects of my blindness put me in a pandemic of fear. The battle became real, painfully real that my own ways to solve problems were not sufficient. solutions were not a match for a tragedy of this magnitude. Nothing brought comfort, reassurance, or hope.
And empty of that hope, I frantically shopped for a dose of comfort—through specialists, even visiting fortune tellers, psychics, New Age healers, etc. They successfully increased frustration and decreased the balance of my bank account.
My whole life was off balance. And when almost ready to tumble in defeat, I found the zipper—the opening. It was the entrance designed in the heart for Jesus to come in.
When He did, He provided freedom from the world’s deceptions.
Once I received Him into my life, I made Him my Lord, my God and my all.
His faithfulness, compassion, and guidance offered a perfect garment for my soul. The price tag read, “Free.”
This incredible gift, complete with the jewels of His trustworthy promises, adorn my renewed life.
It can adorn yours, too!
With a new beginning, you can leave behind attempts to win the battle on your own. With the new-found confidence, you can embrace the truth that God created you and thus know what will fit your soul. He knows the size of your needs. The color of your pain, the fabric of your fears, and the fashion of your insecurities.
Trusting in the pattern He custom-designed for you, He invites you to step into the dressing room of life where you can put on the new garment of His freedom.
Breathing in that freedom, fear, anxiety, and doubt no longer fit. Instead, you receive a new peace-filled life in Christ.
That’s how God’s peace filters through as He turns blindness, emotional virus, or tragedy to joy.
And with a new outlook, we can hold on to his healing Word as we sing from within: “We will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland” (Isaiah 61:10 NIV).
Let’s Pray
Father, I confess my feeble attempts to find my own way out of fear. But because of Your grace, I delight in the perfect fit of your faithfulness that clothes my longing soul. In Jesus name.
God has the perfect garment that fits your every need, will you try it on?
Janet
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Janet Perez Eckles’ story of triumph is marked by her work as an international speaker, #1 best-selling author, radio host, personal success coach and master interpreter. Although blind since 31, her passion is to help you see the best of life.
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